Sidharth Rao, CEO and Co-founder Webchutney , started his career with the sole desire to create something. He worked for a brief period at Grey, and then launched his own ad agency. He then ventured into creating two more companies: JuxtConsult and NetworkPlay . He discusses his experiences with us.

Which, according to you, are the most important milestones of your advertising career?
Sudesh [Samaria] and I co-founded Webchutney in 1999, after my short stint at Grey where we first met. We've covered massive ground since our early days after surviving the dot-com bust to pioneering viral marketing in India, receiving national and international recognition for ground-breaking work with Fortune 50 companies and start-ups, having risen from a two-person ‘creative shop' to over 200 digital and creative specialists across our offices in  New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore today. 

We work very hard to constantly raise the bar for ourselves, and are proud to emerge as the most relevant and awarded independent digital creative agency today while gaining credible recognition as India's number one digital marketing agency two years in a row.

Your company was declared as one of the coolest in work atmosphere, what steps do you take to motivate your teammates?
We've always been careful and particular with hiring the right people and acquiring the kind of talent most suited to the nature of the medium we work with. Our work culture is much like the internet---open, agile and free flowing. Just like the web, our agency is a platform for people who believe in disruption, ingenuity and the power of sharing!

You use humour as a part of all your advertisements, for e.g. the ads you made for Airtel (Ali Baba and Chaalis Chor) and Orbit (Thakur and Gabbar). Do you find it's the best route, or the one that applies most for online ads? 
Humour helps strike an instant chord with users and improves the pass-along value of an innovative idea in advertising. This works well for brands that are advertising online to increase awareness and reach out to a discerning audience which influences others through word-of-mouth, both online and offline.

We were able to crack viral marketing and break through the clutter of ordinary advertising quite early, notably with Microsoft's Chithi Aayi Hain viral ad and a series of virals created for MakeMyTrip.



How long do you think it'll be before digital advertising (i.e. online, mobile phone advertising) gains a sizeable chunk of the Indian advertising market? What's your opinion on Indian brands embracing digital advertising?
Digital marketing is on an upswing, gaining considerable momentum with large user bases of 50 million Indians online and around 500 million mobile users. The accelerated usage and adoption of digital devices is bound to increase further, and my sense is that the online medium will gain critical mass in another 5 years or so.

Marketers today still harbour the same ambitions from digital campaigns, as they do from offline campaigns, which are typically influenced by numbers and conversions. As an interactive agency, we help them understand the value of building engagement online through distinct activities characteristic of the medium.

We've seen a surge of interest amongst Telecom, FMCG and Automotive players attempting to build a strong presence online. Brands like Airtel, Marico, Unilever, MasterCard, Titan etc. have done some fantastic campaigns online, which have helped in setting higher benchmarks for others to follow.

 

What is your opinion on crowdsourcing? Do you think it has a future in India, in terms of within an agency, being used by an agency or being used by a brand?
In a community-driven culture like India's, the concept of crowdsourcing has tremendous potential if used effectively. The scale, at which brands in India have utilized the power of online masses, has been relatively modest so far. The biggest crowdsourced brand campaign that has gained impressive traction and visibility is led by The Times of India, a print/offline media publication through their ‘A Day in the Life of India' contest.

The trick is in hitting the right note or chord among masses for ‘crowdsourcing' to play itself out, in the true sense of the word. Not every product, brand or idea can be crowdsourced, but engaging masses in co-creating brand identities through direct and timely interaction can prove to be equally rewarding.

What's your take on BrandPotion?
We're happy with the emphasis BrandPotion lays on new-age digital marketing concepts that help educate brand marketers, while offering a unique platform to share industry best practices.

Any suggestions on how one can get into the field of advertising and what are the prerequisites? Any tips for budding copywriters or art directors who want to start creating ads for crowdsourcing sites?
Just give it your 100% once you are sure you are in the right place, doing the right thing. It is also a good idea to be able to go beyond the immediate task at hand and conceptualise the entire campaign from start to finish irrespective of your role, to get a better grip on the kind of communication that would click with the audience.

-- Interviewed by Prerna Arora